


Checkmate

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds, Spencer Reid - Fandom
Genre: Chess, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-15 11:17:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8054212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: This was a combination of two prompts given to me by someone. The prompts were "I challenge you to a game of chess" and "I'm kind of in love with you right now."Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	Checkmate

“Hey, Spencer,” Y/N greeted cheerily.

Spencer looked up to see his new co-worker, Y/N, approaching him in the park where he occasionally played chess. He knew she liked to take walks there, but she had only been with the BAU for a few months, so he didn’t really know her that well yet. All he knew was that she was beautiful, funny, kind and exceedingly intelligent.

“How are you today?” she asked, looking down at the game he was currently playing against himself. It was one of their rare days off and Spencer wanted to brush up on his skills.

The truth was he was really close to playing through all the permutations possible in chess. It wasn’t impossible; it just took forever - and he was almost there. “Well, I’m mere matches away from playing through all the possible permutations on a chess board.”

“Wow,” she said, a hint of surprise laden in her voice, “that’s impressive. How good would you say you are?”

Spencer had no doubt he could have been one of the best in the world had he decided to play it professionally. “Very,” he said confidently, shining a toothy-grin that made her smile in return.

Y/N cocked her head to the left, debating whether or not to challenge him. They didn’t really know each other that well yet, but she liked him a lot, and now was as good a time as any. “I challenge you to a game, Spence.”

His eyes widened, “Seriously? Are you sure?” He hadn’t really played with anyone since Gideon left, but it might be nice to have someone to challenge him again - if she could best him that was.

“Absolutely,” she said, sitting down on the bench across from him. “Bring it on.”

He decided to let her go first. He wanted to be nice, but it was also an advantage for him to see what type of player she was, before she could see how he played. She moved one of her pawns to D4 and Spencer returned with placing a knight at F6. After looking between Spencer and the board more than a few times (likely trying to place her opponent and figure out how to proceed), she moved a second pawn to C4, at which point he moved one of his own pawns to E6. 

They proceeded to move piece after piece, while also falling into an easy conversation. Profound, but simple. It flowed. He was more than comfortable to be around.

He found out she came from a family of six - two parents and four daughters. She had a happy family life for the most part, but the first time she saw horrific murder coverage on the news, she knew she wanted to work for the FBI. He told her the story of how his father left and how his mother was sick. When he first started at the BAU, he was nowhere near as open, but years with the people he called family taught him to open himself up. She immediately understood his situation, having lost an uncle to a schizophrenic break.

It was approaching what would be considered the middle of the match and Spencer couldn’t actually figure out what her play was. “Where are you going with this?” he said, overjoyed at the fact that he was actually stumped.

Y/N laughed, mimicking zipping her lips close and smiling. “I guess you’ll just have to find out.”

She moved a bishop to H7 and he overtook it with a queen. He smiled, feeling like he might be able to pull out a win against what turned out to be a formidable opponent.

The next few moves happened quickly, leaving them fairly even, and again they found themselves sliding into conversation. Y/N always tended to ask random and sometimes deep questions in order to truly get to know people, so after asking about the best day of his life she asked the opposite. She apologized profusely when he responded that he had a list, but having to put his mom in Bennington Sanitarium and being kidnapped and tortured by a serial killer with Dissociative Identity Disorder were pretty high on his list.

“Oh my god, Spencer, I’m so sorry I asked!” she practically shrieked, knocking over her king, which had moved to H7.

He laughed it off graciously, “Don’t worry, Y/N. It was hell at the time, but I’ve learned over the years not to dwell on the things I can’t control. But I have to ask what your worst day or days were?”

He moved his remaining rook to C7 and she replied, “Well, I guess that’s only fair. I have two as well. The first one was the night my nanny died. We were very close. She had lung cancer and when it returned, it took her quickly. I was in the room with my mom, my poppy and her aunt, technically my great, great aunt, when she flatlined. It’s one of the worst sounds I’ve ever heard and being in hospitals still makes me uncomfortable.”

Spencer was horrified. Although he had been around death quite a lot, (given his line of work it wasn’t hard to believe), he had never had someone truly close to him be taken away right in front of him. “I can’t even imagine, Y/N, I’m so sorry.”

She shrugged her shoulders in acceptance, “It was a long time ago and she wouldn’t want me to dwell on it.” She showed him the cardinal tattoo on her ankle, her nanny’s favorite animal, so she was always with her. “And the other one was about the uncle I told you about. I said he committed suicide - well, I was the one that found him - and he used a gun.”

“Oh fuck,” he breathed, realizing what he just said. “Sorry, I normally don’t use that language out loud, but…fuck.”

Y/N laughed at that, “Spencer, I grew up in New York. I use the word fuck like a comma. Feel free to drop the F bomb whenever you’d like.”

They approached the end of the match and Spencer still didn’t know the game she was playing. She had somehow picked a series of moves that he hadn’t played out before. Fuck.

He responded, “Well, this has been really fun, Y/N. We should do it again sometime. Should we finish up?” The conversation had taken over to the point that they forgot they were even playing.

Y/N moved her rook to D4.

He countered, his queen at F3.

And finally, her king went to B3.

She looked up to see his mouth hanging open. “Checkmate.”

She beat him. He was stunned. No one ever beat him anymore. Not since Gideon. “How…?” 

“Garry Kasparov versus Lajos Portisch, 1983, during the Niksic tournament,” she said, laughing into her hand, which she had placed over her mouth.

Spencer did a double take between Y/N and the board. He could get used to spending time with her. She matched him in a way very few people did.

“Y/N,” he gushed, a hint of disbelief still tinging his voice. “I’m kind of in love with you right now.”


End file.
